Struggling Caterham Off the Pace in Montreal

Caterham have been off the pace all weekend in Canada (Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd)

The Caterham F1 team have struggled for pace all weekend in Montreal, and both Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson have struggled to keep the car on track throughout the weekend. Kobayashi will start twenty-first after a gearbox change penalty, with Ericsson just ahead of him in twentieth.

Kobayashi will start at the back of the field after a gearbox change but was only twentieth fastest in qualifying anyway. He was almost one second down on the Marussia’s ahead of him, proving just how far the team have dropped away from their perennial rivals this season.

“In quali we did two runs on the supersofts but the red flag at the end of the session meant I couldn’t improve my time,” said Kobayashi. “We’d made a bit more progress since FP3 and the balance was better, so on my last quick lap I made up a tenth in the first two corners, but then had to abort that run so finished in 20th.

“With the grid penalty we have to take for the gearbox change over lunch I’ll start at the back of the grid and all I can do is fight – everyone in the team keeps doing that, even in a tough weekend like we’re having here, and as we saw at the last race, anything can happen and we need to be there if and when it counts tomorrow.”

Swedish team-mate Ericsson was only twenty-first quickest in qualifying, and over half a second off the pace of Kobayashi. The Swede ended the session in the wall at the first chicane after making an error that damaged his car and caused the session to be red flagged with only sixteen seconds remaining on the clock.

“We went out early in Q1 for the first of two runs on the supersofts,” said Ericsson. “I was still having tyre warm-up problems on both runs but the performance had improved a little from the morning session so I could push a bit harder. Unfortunately on my last flying lap I lost the back of the car in turn nine coming up behind a couple of other cars and made contact with the wall, ending my quali.

“It’s obviously fair to say this has been a difficult weekend for me and the whole team. We just aren’t strong enough here and that’s going to make the race pretty hard, but I know I’m ready to do the best I can and that’s the same for everyone in our team.”